On Thursday, November 19, 2009, ITER and F4E signed the Procurement Agreement for the supply of seven of the nine sectors of the ITER Vacuum Vessel. Each sector weighs 450t, is 11 meters high and 13 meters wide.

The signature opens the door for F4E to initiate the tendering process to European industry.

The 4th ITER Council meeting that took place in Mito, Japan on Wednesday and Thursday June 17 – 18, 2009 marked an important step towards the next stage of development for ITER.

The ITER Council endorsed the phased approach to the completion of ITER construction and the target date for first plasma by the end of 2018, maintaining operation with Deuterium and Tritium fuels in 2026. This decision will help the ITER team to move ahead with the development of the ITER baseline, which we look forward to presenting to the Council at its next meeting in Cadarache in November.

There was a positive atmosphere throughout the Council meetings demonstrating the determination of all Members to push ahead. I would like to thank all delegates for their support and also the organizers for their efficiency and hospitality.

“We are happy to have been invited to this meeting and to see the meticulous work done by the IO’s Office of Civil Construction and Jacobs Engineering“, said Laurent Schmieder, Head of the Division for Site, Buildings and Power supplies at the Joint Undertaking “Fusion for Energy” (F4E). “It certainly marks the beginning of an intense and constructive cooperation between the ITER Organization and the European Domestic Agency.” The result of this Design Review will be used by F4E to open calls for tender in order to realize the Detailed Designs. A of these first contracts have been made last week during the “First Meeting on buildings for ITER,” organized by F4E in Cadarache.

On 17-18 June 2008, the ITER Council, the Governing Body of the new International Organization, convened for its second meeting. The two day meeting in Aomori, Japan, brought together senior representatives from the seven ITER Members: China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States.

ITER, a joint international research project, will attempt to reproduce on Earth the nuclear reactions that power the Sun and other stars. To test whether this is possible, plasma turbulence simulation and modelling tools are being developed, but these require a huge amount of computing power to process data. This is where EUFORIA, a â‚¬3.65 million EU-funded project, comes in. It aims to link computers from all overEurope and harmonise the simulations made in various areas of fusion.Bringing together partners from France, Finland, Germany, Italy Spain, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and UK, the project will work between now and 2010 to distribute the computing capacity needed for simulating ITER to networks of computers and high performance computers (HPC) across Europe. ‘We try to link the different computer architectures such that the strengths of the respective architecture are made use of to the full extent, stresses Dr Marcus Hardt, EUFORIA project coordinator at the Karlsruhe Research Centre (FZK) in Germany.Until now, simulation programs from various fields of physics have been conducted separately. These individual simulation program frequently involves extensive calculation processes, taking months before results are available. The EUFORIA project hopes to bring these programs together to simulate the fusion reactor as a whole.Initially, the project will focus on adapting and optimising plasma physics and magnetic confinement fusion codes for use in grid and HPC environments. The aim is to make the programs containing the code run faster and to enable them to use a larger number of processors in order to solve substantially larger problem instances.

The lessons learned during this development phase will be made publicly available and direct support will be provided to new users who wish to integrate their fusion codes into the EUFORIA platform. This activity alone will provide a significant step forward in the modelling capacities and capabilities of the fusion modelling community, say the project partners.

The coupling of different computational modules and codes requires a large degree of coordination and structured data management and efficient resource scheduling. In its second phase, the project will develop a workflow orchestration tool to facilitate the integration process and provide a structure or framework for performing additional tasks such as computational steering and interactive monitoring or control. The end result, the project partners hope, is improved integrated modelling capabilities of fusion plasmas, as well as new fusion computing infrastructure and tools.

Fusion for Energy (F4E), the organisation for Europe’s contribution to ITER, unlocks new business opportunities for industry by launching its first ever procurement.Â ITER is the worldâ€™s largest scientific partnership that aims to demonstrate the potential of fusion as an energy source, bringing together seven parties that represent half of the worldâ€™s population- the EU, Russia, Japan, China, India, South Korea and the United States.Â The objective of this first procurement by Fusion for Energy is the supply of Chromium plated Copper strand that forms part of the ITER super conducting magnets in order to hold the heated gas known as plasma in position.Â This first procurement marks the beginning of a strong partnership with European industry and research organisations in providing the components for ITER and ensuring its successful operationâ€™ explained Fusion for Energy Director, Didier Gambier.Â

Fusion will generate growth and jobs by opening up new markets and opportunities to a wide range of industries and research organisations. Aside from progress in the field of fusion technologies, fusion research has contributed by means of direct or indirect spin offs to areas of medicine and health including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); material processing through advancements made in laser machining and robotics through progress made in remote handling systems.Â

What is Fusion for Energy?Â

Fusion for Energy is the European Unionâ€™s organisation responsible for providing Europeâ€™s procurements and â€˜in kindâ€™ contribution to ITER. It will also support fusion R&D initiatives through the Broader Approach Agreement signed with Japan and prepare for the construction of demonstration fusion reactors. Fusion for Energy was set in April 2007 for a period of 35 years. Its offices are located in

Barcelona, Spain.Â

What is ITER?

ITER aims to reproduce fusion that occurs in the sun and stars. Existing experiments have already shown that it is possible to replicate this process on Earth. ITER aims to do this at a scale and in conditions that will demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion as an energy source.Â

What is fusion?Â

When the nuclei of light atoms come together at very high temperatures, they fuse and they release enormous amounts of energy- this is the power source for our sun and stars. To produce fusion on earth, one must heat gas to around 10 million degrees Celsius in a â€œcageâ€ made by strong magnetic fields which prevent gas from escaping. The development of fusion science and technology has been the basis of the European fusion programme.Â

Why is fusion an attractive source of energy?

It could provide a large-scale energy source with basic fuels which are abundant and available everywhere.

Very low global impact on the environment â€“ no CO2 greenhouse gas emissions.

Day-to-day-operation of a fusion power station would not require the transport of radio-active materials.

Power Stations would be inherently safe, with no possibility of â€œmeltdownâ€ or â€œrunaway reactionsâ€.

There is no long-lasting radioactive waste to create a burden on future generations.

How will ITER be financed?Â

Most of the components that make up ITER will be contributed by the ITER parties â€œin kindâ€ (i.e. by providing directly the components themselves, rather than contributing cash). The EU as host Party for ITER, will contribute up to about 50% of the construction costs and the other parties will each contribute up to 10%.Â